Federal Court Strikes Down Virginia School Board's Confederate Renaming
A federal judge ordered a Virginia county to rename two schools, ruling the restoration of Confederate names violated Black students' rights.
A federal judge has ordered a Virginia school board to change the names of two schools, ruling that the board's decision to restore Confederate military names was discriminatory. The ruling, filed in U.S. District Court, sided with the Virginia NAACP in a lawsuit against the Shenandoah County School Board.
Judge Michael F. Urbanski found that the board's 2024 decision to reinstate the names violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. The court described the Confederate names as "vestiges" of the county's segregationist past, noting that the board acted with full knowledge of their historical legacy and ongoing impact.
"The affirmative act of reinstating these vestiges of segregation is far more problematic than a passive failure to remove a long-standing name or symbol," Urbanski wrote. The judge ordered the board to select new names "on a racially nondiscriminatory basis with all deliberate speed."
The lawsuit was filed in June 2024 after the board voted 5-1 to change Mountain View High School back to Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary back to Ashby-Lee Elementary. The names honor Confederate figures Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby. The board's action reversed a 2020 decision to remove the names amid nationwide protests over racial injustice.
The NAACP argued that Black students, who make up less than 3% of the district's population, would be forced to endorse the Confederacy's defense of slavery. Board members who supported the restoration said they were reflecting community sentiment and that the 2020 removal had ignored constituents.
NAACP Virginia State Conference President Rev. Cozy Bailey called the ruling "a decisive victory" for students. The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, which represented the NAACP, said the court acknowledged the real harm such names inflict. An attorney for the county did not respond to requests for comment.